


Murphy's Law is a Bitch

by AvengerOlivia14



Category: Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020)
Genre: Abuse, Anger, Angst, Caring, Family, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Feels, Guilt, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, OTP Feels, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Post-Canon, Self-Hatred, Soulmates, Trauma, True Love, Unrequited Love, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:20:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23463100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengerOlivia14/pseuds/AvengerOlivia14
Summary: Most stories usually end with a 'and they lived happily ever after' but not many stories tell you what happens after that. It's the rule of the universe, that nothing lasts forever, especially happiness.ORWhere a lovestruck Kartik forgot for a few moments of his life, that his life is shithole. And now he's dragged Aman in it.(Warning!!! it's a kinda dark story, so beware. I'm sorry in advance)
Relationships: Kartik Singh & Tripathi Family, Kartik Singh/Aman Tripathi
Comments: 82
Kudos: 128





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline:  
> Chapter 1- Day 1-Saturday Morning  
> Chapter 2- Day 2-Sunday Morning  
> Chapter 3- Day 2-Sunday Mid-Morning  
> Chapter 4- Day 2-Sunday Afternoon  
> Chapter 5- Day 3-Monday Morning (Flashbacks from Sunday Night)  
> Chapter 6- Day 2-Sunday (All day)  
> Chapter 7- Day 3-Monday Morning  
> Chapter 8- Day 3-Monday Morning  
> Chapter 9- Day 3-Monday Afternoon  
> Chapter 10 & onwards- Figure it out yourselves- I'm tired

“Arey bhai sahab, kaise karke laga rahe hai? Thheek se lagaiye daam!” [“Hey, how are you rating the vegetables? Rate them correctly!”] Mrs. Tripathi was on video call with her boys, bargaining with that wily _sabji wala_ who thought he was being SO clever by thinking that he could get away with scamming our gullible Kartik and Aman (or at least that’s what Mom Tripathi thought he was doing), but Sunaina Tripathi was not going to let that happen.

So there they stood, Aman and Kartik, while the whole drama went on. (Seriously when did anything EVER happen in their lives without drama) Kartik grinned mischievously at the annoyance of the _sabji wale bhaiya_ , while Aman was just trying to hide himself away from embarrassment.

When all was said and done, the vegetables packed, the vendor paid, and Aman MORE than ready to leave, they both said their individual “Thanks, Mummy” and Aman continued with, “Abhi rakhta hoon, ghar jaake phone karunga” [“I’m hanging up now, I’ll call you when we get home”], before ending the call, dominatingly saying, “I’ll drive” (just in case Kartik got the idea of getting up on the front seat) and getting up on the bike. And throughout the whole ordeal, Kartik did nothing but fondly smile at the love of his life and the people that he brought along with him, in this case- Mummy, and do as he was told.

This was Kartik’s life. And it was perfect. He would never ask for anything more. It felt so unreal that he STILL sometimes asked himself if it really WAS real. He never said anything about that particular thought to Aman, because he knew what his Husband (wow, Aman REALLY was his husband now) would say.

It’d be something along the lines of “Of course it is real, and do you know how I know that? It’s because you are **_such_** an AMAZING person, and yet you had to go through such bullshits in life, so it’s only fair that you get SOME good in your life as well. A family. A home. It’s because THIS is what you DESERVE after all that shit. This life. Right here. Me. And you. This is what WE deserve. Together.”

Kartik sighed happily. Even in his imagination, Aman was so perfect, taking care of him and loving him. And as the spring breeze passed by Aman sitting in the front, and moved on to touch Kartik’s face, Kartik closed his eyes and reveled in the feel- of the cool air, of his ~~boyfriend~~ husband’s smell that flowed in with the wind, and of the beautiful warm Saturday morning that seemed to be having a tinge of romance mixed in it.

Yet looking back on this same day, a few weeks from now, he wouldn’t remember any of its beauty. He would look back at it with only regrets and wish that he’d never left the house that morning or any morning of that particular weekend.


	2. Chapter 2

Waking up in a lazy Sunday morning with the person you love the most by your side, is a dream that everyone wishes was a reality. If Kartik could time travel back to his younger self, the one who had just arrived in Delhi with boatload of hopes, a spoonful of fears and an ocean full of loneliness in his heart; he would tell his younger self about Aman, a man who was the incarnation all of Kartik’s dreams and wishes; all rolled into one **very** huggable human being.

Watching Aman sleep so adorably, with his face smushed into the pillow is Kartik’s favorite weekend morning pastimes. But alas! All good things must come to an end. And that’s exactly what happened when Aman sleepily mumbled, “Stop staring, you creep” while still having his eyes closed and then he shifted a little before half-opening his eyes with a small peaceful smile. “Good Morning”, Aman said.

“Mornin’”, Kartik sing-songed. It was the little things like this that made Aman fall in love with him every day, little by little. That’s why he couldn’t stop himself from kissing those beautiful lips of his husband. When Kartik deepened the kiss, Aman not being in the mood this early in the morning, pulled away groaning. “Itni jaldi kyun uthh gaya?” (Why are you up so early?) Aman asked sleepily.

“Jaldi?!” (Early?!) Kartik being awake for a while now, had gained a bit of energy in himself that he put in his words. Though that didn’t imply that Aman “not a morning person” Tripathi didn’t cringe at the loudness of his energetic voice. He brought his palm up to cover his ear, the eardrum of which seemed to have exploded.

“9:30 ho raha hai, you sloth!” (Its 9:30, you sloth!) Aman didn’t seem to appreciate that tone and winced before turning away from Kartik and pulling the blanket over his head.

“Haw, junglee”, Kartik accused playfully hitting Aman in the back. When Aman replied by showing him the middle finger, Kartik got out of bed saying, “Meri toh koi izzat hi nahi hai iss ghar mein.” (No one respects me in this household.)

Kartik went to the kitchen, made some sandwiches, ate those sandwiches, and Aman **still** wasn’t up. He went to the bedroom to see if he was still sleeping, so that he could annoy him into waking. But to his dismay Aman was already up and in the bathroom that was attached to their bedroom, taking a shower. Kartik knocked on the bathroom door, instantly hearing the shower being turned off for the moment, and said, “I’m going to the market. Kuch chahiye?” (Do you want something?)

“Humne kal hi toh grocery shopping ki thi na?” (Didn’t we do grocery shopping yeaterday?) questioned Aman.

“Haan…toh…main bas aise hi time pass karne ja raha hoon” (Yeah…well…I’m going for time pass) Kartik replied childishly.

After that, an ‘uff’ could be heard from inside the door before the shower started up again.

Kartik chuckled to himself. He took the bike keys, walked out of their apartment and closed the door after himself. He was completely jovial, smiling, humming to himself and twirling the keys on his index finger. At that moment, he hadn’t known that only a few hours later, there’d be nothing but tears in his eyes for the only person he _truly_ loved in this entire universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else crying over not being able to watch Panchayat cuz of being SUPER poor, or is it just me?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today's chapter is brought ot you by the nation of Procrasti and help from Basically_a_fangirl

_God, Aman what have you done to me._ Kartik thought to himself as he entered the elevator form the lobby of his apartment building. The past hour that he spent at the market being uneventful, turned out to be quite fun. And in that time, all that he could think was how much more fun would it have been with his lovely hubby. He went to the market alone because as much as he loved Aman, he thought he needed some ‘me time’; since recently he’d been spending all of his waking moments with Aman, even at work. Though somewhere along these past several months, he seemed to have forgotten that the only reason his life was as such was because he was completely smitten in love with the beautiful miracle named Aman.

Getting out of the elevator he started walking towards their apartment. He turned the corner, only to find the front door half opened. _WTF_ Kartik thought to himself, as he clearly remembered closing the door after himself before going out. Even if Aman had opened the door for some reason, his extremely OCD ~~boyf-~~ husband would not _keep_ the door open.

Walking inside, his curiosity and uneasiness turned into full blown fear and panic. Their house was completely trashed. Kartik didn’t even pause for a second to look at the destruction, he just ran. He ran to find Aman. He ran to make sure he was safe (the chances of which looked rather slim, but Kartik didn’t want to think about that, he couldn’t afford to think about that).

He didn’t need to run too far though. He found Aman rather quickly, but the state in which he found him in, made Kartik feel like he’d died and gone to hell. Aman was on the floor. He was lying there unconscious and bloody. He held Aman’s face in his hands and called out his name. He shook him lightly; even gently tapped his face, in hopes of any and all response. But when none came, he pulled Aman on his lap and held him in place with one hand, while he dialed the number for the hospital with his other hand.

After one frantic emergency phone call to the hospital and another one to the police station, he let go of his phone. That’s when he noticed the state of complete disarray his surrounding was in. Their apartment was a small one. He could have a look at most of the rooms from where he was sitting, without letting go of Aman; though he wished that he didn’t. Many of his and Aman’s photo frames were broken, chairs toppled over, the glass top of the coffee table was broken, let’s not even TALK about the state in which the kitchen was in, bed sheets strewn, Aman’s flower vase broken and probably a lot more destruction if inspected further. Seeing that, all Kartik could think was _oh Aman is going to be SO mad._ At that thought, he looked down at Aman and seeing his closed eyes & bloodied face, he felt nothing. In that moment, there was no sadness, no guilt, no fear, not even the panic and anxiety that he felt just seconds ago. All that was there was nothingness. Numbness. A void.

Someday, years from now, Kartik would look back at this day and remember this feeling; though he would not be able to explain what exactly did he _feel_ at that time. So he would simply go on to describe it by saying, “I guess that’s what death feels like.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy belated SMZS release on Prime Day!!! I completed this chapter LITERALLY as the clock struck 12 and the date changed to 19, so yeah 'belated'.
> 
> Also, i have ADHD and my updating schedule is God's hands. Hope you enjoy this chapter. :)

Physically, Kartik was in the waiting room of the hospital twirling his phone in his hands but mentally, Kartik was with Aman in the OT.

There were too many injuries and too much blood loss. The head injury alone was bad enough that it would require surgery. So obviously, that decision was taken as soon as the medics checked up on him after he was admitted. As they took Aman away, they suggested Kartik to wait outside and in the meanwhile, fill out the forms. Kartik did as told, and as he was filling the information out one by one- _name, D.O.B., Blood Group, Father’s name, address, etc._ It struck Kartik that everything happened so fast and he was so caught up in his state of shock and grief that he completely forgot about Aman's family (It’s funny how all it took was Aman getting hurt for Kartik’s mind to revert back to _Aman’s family_ from _our family)._

So that’s how he ended up in the waiting room, with his phone in his hand, trying to figure out how to break the news. But unfortunately, while trying to form up a plan on how to break the news, Kartik got lost in his own mind and somehow ended up zoned out thinking about Aman’s state. He was broken out of this almost trance-like state when the phone in his hand started vibrating (and thank god for vibrate mode because Kartik’s mind was so dispersed, he probably would not have heard it ring).

It was the Tripathi’s (It was Papa Tripathi’s number, to be exact, that flashed on the screen, so obviously the whole family was going to join in the conversation). Kartik hadn’t realized that he was so lost in his own mind, worrying about Aman, that he was almost on the verge of a breakdown. Now that the phone was ringing and there was no way to escape the inevitable conversation (unless he were to not pick up the call or hang up, and open a Pandora’s box worth of new questions that the Tripathi’s would interrogate him with, which he _really_ wasn’t in the state to deal with), he finally allowed himself to breakdown silently while clicking on ‘receive’.

“Hello beta Kartik? Haan, hum Aman ke phone pe call karne ka koshish kar rahe thhe par who baar-baar ‘switch off’ bata raha thha to tumhe phone kiya. Sab thhek toh haina beta? Aman kahan hai?” [“Hello Kartik? Yea, we were trying to call on Aman’s phone but it was saying that its ‘switched off’ again and again that’s why we called you. Is everything alright, son? Where’s Aman?”] came Shankar Tripathi’s voice as soon as the call connected.

Kartik sniffed. It took him a second to find his voice to reply, by then Shankar and Sunaina had sensed that something was wrong, because the over enthusiastic Kartik that they knew always had his reply ready the instant they were done talking, sometimes he didn’t even wait for them to finish to give his answers. This was not that Kartik, that’s why before Kartik could reply Sunaina went in full Motherly-panic mode and frantically asked, “tu thheek toh hai na Kartik? Aman kahan hai?” [“Are you okay Kartik? Where’s Aman?”]

“Ha-haan Mummy main thheek hoon, par Aman-“ [“Ye-yes Mummy I’m okay, but Aman-“], he trailed off, not able to find words for how to describe it because, let’s face it, he _himself_ didn’t know **WHAT. THE. HELL. HAPPENED!**

“Aman ko kya hua?” [What happened to Aman?”] it was Shankar this time, and there was more authority in his voice than worry.

“I don’t- I don’t know! Main jab ghar se nikla thha woh bilkul thhek thha. I was just gone for an hour! Kisi ne ghar mein ghus ke usko kuch kar diya hoga. Varna, how else could it have possibly have happened?! I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I should have been there for him.” [“I don’t- I don’t know! When I left the home he was absolutely fine. I was just gone for an hour! Someone must have broke into our house and done something to him. Otherwise, how else could it have possibly have happened?! I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I should have been there for him.”] Kartik started sobbing now that he was done rambling.

On the other side, the whole family looked at each other concerned. This was not good. This was **very** not good. Tripathi family had so many questions in their minds, but they decided to spare Kartik of further misery. He clearly had a lot of it already.

To ease Kartik’s distress Chaman said, “Kartik? Kartik, tum tension mat lo. Hum Delhi aa rahe hai.” [“Kartik? Kartik don’t worry. We’ll come to Delhi”]

“Yeah, we’ll be there for you Kartik. Just wait a few hours. Keshav ko bolke humlog abhi next flight book karake Delhi aa rahe hai” [“Yeah, we’ll be there for you Kartik. Just wait a few hours. Keshav will book the next flight out for us and we’ll be there in Delhi”], said Rajni next.

It seemed that a certain weight lifted off of Kartik’s shoulder that he didn’t even know that he was carrying. He couldn’t say anything more than a “Th-thank you” before ending the call.

Back in Allahabad they had a little discussion as to who should go and who should stay. It was decided that Shankar, Sunaina and Rajni will go and the tickets were booked as such. Shankar and Sunaina were in the list because “Maa-Baap hai uske!” [“We are his parents!”] and Rajni because she declared that she would go and no one dared argue with her, though in all fairness it was partly because she seemed to be a lot closer to Kartik and Aman than the rest of the family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How tf did this simple ass chapter get so big you ask? FEELINGS!! SO. MUCH. FEELINGS!!!
> 
> Aren't emotions just the worst


	5. Chapter 5

_Kartik was holding Aman in his arms. He was rocking back and forth as tears streamed down his face. He held Aman’s bloody face in his hands and lightly called out his name. Again and again and again. But there was no response. And every time that Aman didn’t respond, a piece of Kartik's Heart and Soul broke and got lost in a void of pain. A void that sucked everything out of him the moment he saw Aman hurt. A void that neither let him breathe nor let him die. A void that neither let him analyse the past to try and find the truth nor did it let him think about the future where he knew he’d have to work tooth and nail to help his love recover- physically, emotionally, all of it. A void that was a curse and a blessing, all at the same time._

_Aman’s face from this morning flashed before his eyes. He looked so peaceful as he slept. Not a single thing to worry about. Lost in a world of dreams created inside his own mind. Just thinking about **that** Aman, Kartik was filled with love._

_But this Aman? The Aman whose face was caked in his own blood? This Aman who was hurt by god knows which son of a bitch and now lay here unconscious? This Aman was a stark contrast from the morning-face-Aman whom Kartik considered to be his ‘happy place’._

_Every time Kartik was stressed, every time work got frustrating, every time someone judged him or laughed at him behind his back simply because he existed; Kartik would excuse himself for a moment, close his eyes and imagine his lovely husband’s sleep face drenched in early morning sunlight. And somehow, just in the nick of time, he would forget about the rest of the world and smile to himself. Sometimes, he would pull out his wallet, open it and look at Aman’s super cute candid side profile picture of him looking out the window. In that moment, he would **swear** that he could **feel** the serotonin flowing through him. That particular picture in Kartik’s wallet was for the times when his thoughts got a little too dark and Aman wasn’t around to help him out of that darkness. When the bad memories, his father’s derogatory words from the past and the ghosts of the extreme physical pain came back from a time upon which he did not want to reminisce on and raised its ugly head, that one picture in Kartik’s wallet helped him out._

“Kartik?” came a soft female voice. “Kartik beta uthhjao.” [“Kartik beta wake up”]

_Beta? He hadn’t been called that since... Since... His mom._

“Kartik?” said the voice again.

_But she is dead. She had been dead for a long time now._

“Kartik uthh jao.” [“Kartik wake up”]

_The scenery around him changed. He was no longer sitting on the floor of his apartment, but in a bright white place. He could see nothing but whitespace around him. He looked around, but still he could see nothing. As if he had entered in an alternate dimension where there was nothing but white light._

“Kartik uthho beta.” [“Kartik please wake up beta”] The voice said overflowing with love.

_Had he finally died and gone to heaven? Is this what heaven looked like? Oh god, how he wished to see his mother. He had been waiting to meet her again for so long. And that much love could pour out for him only from his mother’s voice. He wanted to reach out to that voice._

_But wait._

_If he was in heaven, where was Aman?_

_He was holding Aman in his arms just a second ago. Where did he go?!_

_Was he dead too?_

_Oh no!_

_Aman?_

_Aman?!_

“AMAN!!”Kartik woke up with a start. He was breathing heavily. His eyes were wide open, like he’d seen a ghost. It took a while for him to register his surroundings.

He was lying on a couch in an unknown room. Sunaina Tripathi stood before him, concerned. Kartik closed his eyes and ran his hands over his face, in an attempt to clear the sleepiness from his eyes so that he could see a bit clearly. Only to find his palms wet as he withdrew it. He’d been crying in his sleep.

As he stared at his palms, Sunaina sat back on the chair beside his couch and handed him a glass of water. And as he drank the water, the memories started flowing in.

_The Tripathi's had arrived at Delhi in the evening and the first thing they noticed as soon as they saw Kartik was how quite, disheveled and lost he looked._

_The three of them gave each other a concerned and sad look, before Rajni approached Kartik. She stood beside him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. Unfortunately, that gesture startled Kartik out of his daze._ _Kartik looked at them, and it seemed the cogs in Kartik's brains started running on hyperspeed trying to appear as his usual self in front of his in-laws. But after all the bullshit that he’d been through, the Tripathi's didn’t blame him when he clearly and miserably failed at that task._

_“Arey, aap logo ne phone nahi kiya? Mujhe pata bhi nahi chala aap kab aaye” [“Hey, you guys didn’t call me? I didn’t even realize that you had arrived”], said Kartik trying to make small talk, while attempting to smile at his in-laws._

_Sunaina gave him a small sad smile and gently pulled him down into a hug. It took him a second for Kartik to melt into it, but Mrs. Tripathi was glad when he did that and then proceeded to hold onto her tightly._

_“Sab thheek ho jayega, Kartik. Main apne Guddu ko jaanti hoon. Woh humesha aisa hi karta hai.” [“Everything will be fine, Kartik. I know my Guddu. He always pulls these acts”] She said pulling away from the hug, now fully smiling at Kartik through the tears as an attempt to ease his worries. Then Mr. Tripathi continued, “Uski tabiyat jab bhi kharab hoti thi na bachpan me? Tab, pehle ek-do din uski haalat itni kharab rehti thi ki pura parivaar darr jaata, yaha tak ki Doctor bhi pareshaan ho jaate. Lekin phir achaanak hi ek din Aman ka bukhaar ghatne lagta, aur woh khud-b-khud thheek ho jaata.” [“Did you know when he used to get sick as a child? For the first few days, his condition would be so bad that the whole family used to get scared from it, even the Doctor used to get worried. But then, suddenly one day out of the blue Aman’s fever would start going down, and he would get well all on his own.”]_

_Hearing Aman’s childhood stories always managed to put a smile on Kartik’s face. He loved rediscovering his love through the memories of someone else. And with every one of these stories a new string was attached to the rope that kept Kartik and Aman’s hearts bound together. The knot of their love got tighter, as with each of these stories Kartik would fall in love with Aman all over again, and each time for a completely different reason. Like this story for example, told Kartik that how big of a miracle his husband REALLY was. All the more reason for him to be cherished even more than he already was._

_Lost in the moment of Aman’s childhood memories, Sunaina continued looking at her husband, “Yaad hai jab woh thoda bada hua to kaise hume apni dekhbhaal karne nahi dena chahta thha. Tab samajh nahi aata thha ki kyun woh aise humare pyaar se iss tarha bhaagta rahta tha, par ab-“ [“Remember when he got a little older, how he refused to let us take care of him. Back then we didn’t understand why he kept running away from our love, like this, but now-“] she trailed off with a disappointed look on her face. Kartik looked at her with sad yet comforting eyes and in a matter of seconds her expression changed to that of a sad smile and she asked, “Achha yeh sab chhor. Tuné khaana khaaya, Kartik? Bohot kamzor lag raha hai tu.” [“Whatever, leave it. Did you eat Kartik? You look rather weak.”]_

_Kartik looked down and shook his head._

_“Tum ghar gaye bhi ho ya nahi?” [“Did you even go home or not?”] Shankar asked._

_“Mann nahi kar raha. Aur Aman-“ [“I didn’t feel like going home. And Aman-“] Kartik said in a voice barely louder than a whisper._

_“Ab hum aa gaye hai na Kartik, kuch der ke liye Aman ki chinta hum par chhor do.” [“We are here now Kartik, for some time leave your worries about Aman on our shoulders”] Rajni said softly, while placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Afterwards she added with a little bit more cheer in her voice and said, “Tab tak tum mere saath chalo aur kuch kha lo. Aur agar ghar jaane ka mann nahi hai toh paas ka koi hotel room dekhke, waha chalte hai. Tum waha so jaana. Tumhari shakal dekh ke lagta hai tumhe neend ki bohot zarurat hai.” [“In the meantime, you come with me and get something to eat. And if you don’t feel like going home, we can stay at a hotel room nearby. You can sleep there. Seeing your condition, I think you really need it.”]_

_Kartik was about to protest. He had to be there for Aman. Not being there for Aman is what led them into this mess._

_But this was the Tripathi's and they were nothing if not persistent. So in the end he was basically peer pressured into submission._

_Once Kartik and Rajni left, Mummy and Papa Tripathi finally let their_ _grief, panic, anxiety, fear, dread, and all the rest of the negative emotions take over them. Because apparently their anticipation during their entire ride to Delhi was nothing compared to the actual ‘Hell' that the current situation represented. And if Kartik’s reaction was anything to go by, at the moment they were merely standing near the gates of hell. The fires of hell were going to get a lot hotter when they go deeper and uncover the full story._

“Aap kab aayi?” [“When did you come”] Kartik asked when he was done with his glass of water.

“Raat mein hi aa gayi thi, Kartik. Tumhare so jaane ke baad Goggle ne call kiya thha. Woh abhi hospital mein hai.” [“I came last night, Kartik. After you fell asleep, Goggle called me. She’s at the hospital now.

There was a beat of silence then she said, “Tu neend mein Aman ka naam le raha tha.” [“You were calling Aman out in your sleep”]

“Woh thheek toh ho jayega na, Mummy?” ["He will be okay. Right, Mummy?"] asked Kartik finally when he couldn’t control his emotions any more. Kartik had been desperately wanting to know the answer to that question but was scared to ask it out loud, in case the answer he received wasn’t the one he hoped it would be.

This wasn’t Kartik asking Sunaina this question as her son-in-law, or even as her **son**.

This was a child at prayer, begging the God’s to ease his suffering and show him a way.

But alas, Sunaina was no god. They say mothers know everything, call them ‘the human form of God’. But somehow people manage to forget they are still ‘human’ and solely focus on the part where they are referred to as a ‘God’.

So no, Aman’s Mom didn’t have the answer to Kartik’s question.

But seeing the rawness in Kartik’s voice and the hurt in his eyes, even Sunaina couldn’t stop herself from speaking her heart, the words that she would regret saying out loud in front of such a heartbroken Kartik, till the end of time, “Sach kahun to beta mujhe nahi pata.” ["Truth be told, my son I don't know"]

Kartik didn’t believe that the void in his heart could get any bigger. But after hearing those words? It did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate my life :))))))))))


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!!! Explicit mentions of post violence stage and graphic depictions of blood.
> 
> This is the point where the story starts getting dark. Like really dark. The last two chapters were just made up of painful emotions. This is pain in its rawest form (I'm probably exaggerating, but still! DARK!) The happiness, laughter and comedy thet you saw in the film? Gone! Turned upside down! Theres not going to be any semblance of happiness for many chapters!
> 
> (I have a special place in hell reserved for me)

It was not every day that someone barged into a same sex couple’s humble dwelling at midmorning and beat up a man bloody. Even in a city like Delhi where crime was an everyday occurrence to the point that the public turned a deaf ear to any and all crime news nowadays, a break-in at such a busy time in the morning, especially on a Sunday morning was highly unusual.

“This is gonna be a bitch of a case to deal with”, the inspector sighed to herself.

Inspector Razia Sharma. Been on the post for about 6 months though she wouldn’t fall under the ‘rookie’ category, considering she had been a sub-inspector previously. She had seen her fair share of “difficult cases” during her time as sub-inspector and has had her own personal experience with them. However this was her first time being the lead investigator on such a case with all the responsibilities on her shoulders. _‘Perks of being an inspector_ ’, she thought to herself.

When she had arrived at the crime scene all she could see was- a mess, a complete and utter mess. The house was a mess, the physical state of the victim was a mess, along with the emotional state of the victim's husband. A mess.

And it was about to get much more messier.

First thing that anyone would notice as they walked into the apartment, was broken glass top of the coffee table, along with the shattered glass of the sliding doors of the tiny balcony. Its crushed pieces were strewn right in front of the entryway. A broken vase lay beside the small TV table with its contents creating a mess on the already messy and cheap-excuse-of-a-carpet beneath the coffee table. The sofa cushions were thrown about and the photo frames broken. The one solitary flower pot present in the tiny balcony was also destroyed. And in the corner of the room, in front of the doorway to the corridor that led to the other rooms in the house, sat a broken lover holding his broken heart in his arms. Razia’s heart broke at the sight of the two, but she did not approach them yet, as she knew that the paramedics needed to have a look at them first- both the assaulted victim and his boyfriend, who was in shock.

The prima facie of the living room told them that the destruction in the house was not because of some particular reason- like if the assailants were searching something. Destructions that have a hidden agenda aren’t this much barbaric. No, those kinds of destructions have a certain level of coordination and planning to it, the kind of planning that the culprits _themselves_ don’t know that they are following. But it _is_ , however, visible to the eyes of the people who investigate such devastations for a living.

No, this destruction was probably because of anger. And right now the main focus was to find out WHY were they angry. Because by finding out the source of their anger, there was a good chance that the police would also figure out WHO ‘ _they’_ were.

The victim's name was Aman Tripathi, a nice young man from Allahabad, trying to make a life in Delhi.

Not the kind of person who’d have petty disputes with the wrong kind of person resulting in being beaten half to death.

So the only two possible reasons that Inspector Sharma could see for someone like Aman to be assaulted so cruelly was, Number 1- Hate Crime. Specifically, Homophobic Hate Crime.

To the eyes of a commoner, Homophobia would be the obvious answer to all questions in this case. After all, it doesn’t matter how many times Indian people tweet about how ‘#India is #Evolving’, the truth was and still is- Most of India doesn’t WANT to look past its bigoted mindset.

And Number 2- It was a personal attack. Some past deeds that Aman might have done that irked the wrong kind of people or some past story of Aman’s life that police were yet to know about, could be the cause.

And the only way to know about THAT would be by talking to his family and friends. And the immediate family/friend that was readily available right now was Aman’s best friend/boyfriend A.K.A. his confidante- Kartik.

Seeing Kartik’s state though, Razia realized that having too many people, especially police officers, around him would probably overwhelm him. Right now, Kartik was sitting a little bit away from Aman to give the paramedics the space they required to do their work and assess Aman’s condition. But his eyes never left Aman’s face. He stared at his love, unblinking.

The police was yet to investigate the entire apartment since they didn’t want to get in the way of the Paramedics, so some of them were busy interrogating the neighbors. As soon as the medical team cleared out, the police got to work. Inspector Sharma decided to approach Kartik while a few members of her team entered the house. But before she could even draw his attention towards herself, “Ma’am!”, one of the constables called her. The sound seemed to be coming from the bedroom so she rushed towards there. She saw the constable standing there with a horrified look on his face. She followed his line of vision towards the far end of the room where the cupboard stood and she understood the cause of his alarm. That part of the room was covered in blood. There sploshes and splatters of blood all over the floor, the adjacent wall and the cupboard. There were patches of blood on the window frame and the floor seemed to have been finger painted in red.

This is where Aman got beaten up.

But if Aman got beaten up here then why was he found in the living room?

And where were the drag marks? Aman was in no state to move and there was no way he could have been carried over to the living by one person without leaving bloody drag marks.

Inspector Sharma looked at her right and saw that the slot on the door frame, where the lock goes in, was broken. Now, she knew for a fact that the police didn’t have to break into the bed room because she had seen the bedroom door ajar when she walked in the apartment, and she was the first of her team to enter the crime scene. So that meant it was the doings of the assailants.

From these evidences, Razia could frame a scene of what might have unfolded on in here. And finding the shattered remains of a cell phone is further evidence that her assumptions might be true.

So here’s what might have happened- The assailants knock on the front door and an unassuming Aman opens the door expecting his husband. But instead find some unknown faces staring at him on the other side. And before he can ask them of their business, they forcibly enter into the house and start getting violent. So what does Aman do? He runs to bedroom where his phone is, locks the door to protect himself and tries to call for help. But unfortunately, the goons manage to break down the door before he could call the police. Now, assuming that the attackers motive for this brainless act of violence is homophobia, that means they are filled with self-righteous anger with an immense sense of entitlement and seeing the phone in Aman’s hands the attackers probably get angrier and decide to teach him a bigger lesson than the one that they were already going to teach.

Now, the question remains- Why and how did Aman end up on the living room floor instead of the bedroom floor, where he was beaten?

And why and how the hell wasn’t there a blood trail from the bedroom, where Aman was assaulted, to the living room, where he was found?

“There’s more to this case than what meets the eye”, she muttered to herself.

By the time she got out of the room, Kartik had already left for the hospital. She was going to have to interrogate him later. Though in hindsight, it was probably better since he didn’t seem to be in a condition to talk yet.

‘ _I need to discuss my assumptions with my team and see what they think’_ , she then thought to herself. This probable scenario that she formed in her head was nothing but an assumption, with no one available yet to confirm or deny how much of it was true, if at all. _‘But’_ , she thought, _‘maybe discussing the team’s thoughts regarding this case can help shed some light onto the situations and give a hypothesis to the unanswered questions’._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was my birthday yesterday! Thought I'd give you a treat in the form of a chapter update, but it quickly turned gruesome. I'm sorry for this.


	7. Chapter 7

Razia had asked Arjun and Shakti to brief her about yesterday’s findings, first thing in the morning. They seemed to be running five minutes late and someone as punctual as Razia, was very much inconviened by their negligence.

Sub-Inspector Arjun Pandey, a reckless bachelor and an adventurer. He belongs from a small town but his ideals are progressive enough that during his duties at most of the protests in the capital city, he’s mentioned multiple times that he’d rather stand with the public than defend Politians with swollen sense of entitlement, but doesn’t because he has his eyes on a bigger picture, a picture that can only be painted wearing a police uniform.

Sub-Inspector Pandey is outspoken and cocky, no doubt the kind of person to fall in trouble because of his big mouth. He got transferred to Delhi a few months ago because, as he claims, the seniors of the place where he was previously posted in were a bunch of ‘assholes who do not support free speech’. Though, funnily, whenever the question came of _where_ he was previously posted, he somehow **always** managed to dodge the question with silly excuses like ‘Oh, look, someone’s calling me’.

But despite his flaws, Razia could see his dedication, love and pride for his uniform and his duty as the servant of this nation. She believed that if he didn’t have such a big mouth on himself, he’d have made a revolutionary politician/activist. He volunteered for this case and looked ready to work tooth and nails to bring the culprits to justice. He had said, “According to a poll on the social media, there seems to be preconceived notion among the hearts of Indian people that the Indian police is bigoted and that they discriminate, especially towards the minority groups like the LGBT+ people. And solving this case bringing, the assholes to justice is the only way we can prove that idiotic poll wrong!” And **that** was his bigger picture, which he was always focused on- restoring public’s faith in the Justice System of India. Because apart from having his ideals straight, he was also a very stubborn person; and when he set his mind onto something, he didn’t let it go until he got his way ( _‘not in a toxic way though!’_ ). He believed one person can and _will_ make a difference.

But it didn’t matter what he _wanted_ because if Inspector Sharma had to wait _one more minute_ for that man, she is going to keep him away from all the “fun stuff” (as he refers it) of this case, which she had already done once by not letting him into the Apartment to investigate the crime scene with her. She always gave him door duty because his charming personality made him perfect for the job. He personally hated having to smooth-talk his way through assholes to get what he want, but he was also the best suited for the job so he usually complied saying, _‘What would you people do without me’_.

“You called me Ma’am?” Arjun asked as he peeked into her cabin.

“You’re late”, she gave a strict (read: Hitler-esque) reply. “Aur Shakti kaha hai?” [“Where’s Shakti?”]

“Paas wale area se phir se Domestic Violence ka complaint aya hai, usi ko dekhne gayi hai” [“There has been another complaint of Domestic Violence from the nearby area, she has gone to check it out”], answered the Sub-Inspector.

Inspector Sharma scoffed at that, and rolling her eyes she asked “Whatever, did you gain any useful information about the case or are you here to waste my time?”

“I am afraid not, Ma’am” he replied giving a disappointed look. “Maine neighbors se puchhtach ki aur unhone naa hi kuch dekha aur naa hi suna, except adjacent flat waali Mrs. Ahuja. Woh boli ki she heard some commotion like screaming, glass breaking, et cetra but didn’t investigate kyunki unlike most neighbors, she’s not nosy.” [“I interrogated the neighbors and they did not see or hear anything, except for Mrs. Ahuja, who lives in the adjacent flat. She said that she heard some commotion like screaming, glass breaking, et cetra but didn’t investigate because unlike most neighbors, she’s not nosy”] Saying that he took a pause and whispered ‘God I wish she was my neighbor’ under his breath before continuing, “But when the sounds of those commotions got louder and more violent, she got scared. Her husband wasn’t home and she was alone with her two children. She was worried about their safety along with her own, and hence didn’t intervene. She also said that she would have phoned the police, but coincidently, her phone had run out of balance and she’d sent her husband to get her phone recharged, that’s why he wasn’t home.”

“So we got nothing in our hands?” The Inspector was clearly very displeased by this. “Anything else?”

“Not really. But we DO know that nothing was stolen. They don’t own much of anything to BE robbed, so Mr. Triapthi was attacked for probably some personal reasons, instead of being a collateral damage amidst a robbery. And we don’t have anything because- I mean, have you even _looked_ at the neighborhood? It is a cheap apartment building where mostly just bachelors and college students live, and you know how those people are either mostly high or don’t give a damn about this world. Plus, it was a Sunday morning and a lot of people come and go in that time, so the watchman didn’t notice anything. And the cherry on top? Since it’s a dingy/cheap place, it gives them an excuse to not install CCTV cameras in that building because, and I quote ‘We can’t afford it and it’s not like the residents care whether we have a security system or not’”, Arjun said in an exasperated tone. Then gaining back his usual smile he said, “But at least the assailants left behind finger prints! That’s a win, isn’t it?!”

“Oh please”, the inspector replied, annoyed at all the bad news. “Of course they left behind finger prints, it’s not like they put any thought in their heinous act. I mean, look at the crime scene. It’s clearly a crime of passion.”

“You really think so?” asked Arjun.

“Yeah”, she sighed, “I had my doubts regarding my assumptions. After all, they are just assumptions. And no one can know for sure whether these assumptions are correct or not, until the culprit is arrested. But the more I look at the crime scene and the more I think about this case, the more I feel like I’m right about this. Still, I was thinking about discussing this with the team first before jumping to anything. What do you think?”

“Ooh, I don’t think you’ll be able to do that today. We have to go to the Hospital for the victim’s report and to get a word from his boyfriend.”

“Yeah I know”, she took a deep breath, stood up from her desk and said while putting on her Police, “So what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

They followed the routine process- met with the doctor in-charge, got the report, discussed about it a bit regarding any details that they may or may not have missed and got out, greeting a goodbye, when they were done. And all that Razia understood from the report that she was right. The way Aman was assaulted, the injuries and the level of brutality, all indicated to it being a crime of passion. 

As they were walking out of the Hospital, Razia saw Kartik walking in with a middle aged woman by her side. She approached him by saying, “Excuse me? Mr. Singh?”

When Kartik turned his hollow eyed focus on her, she said politely, “Kal itne stress ke beech mein aap se baat nahi ho payi. Kya aap aaj police station aake apni statement de denge.” [“Yesterday, amidst all this stress, we couldn’t talk with you. Would you be able to come to the police station and give your statement?”]

“Kya statement dete samay hum mein se koi iske saath reh sakta hai kya?” [“Can one of us be with him while he gives his statement?”] asked the middle aged woman.

To which, Kartik was about to object, “Mummy-“

But Inspector Sharma turned to her and asked, “Aap kaun?” [“Who are you?”]

“Sunaina Tripathi”, said Mummy Tripathi firmly. “Aman aur Kartik ki Ma.” [“Aman and Kartik’s mother”]

“Oh”, realized Razia. “Yeah sure you can be there.”

“If it’s all the same to you Ma’am,” said Kartik attempting a smile, “I’d like to see Aman and rest of my family first before I go. I’ll be there in a few hours. I have some things to take care of right now.”

The Inspector nodded before the two groups parted ways.

In reality, Kartik didn’t have anything to take care of. He had already filled out all the necessary hospital forms yesterday, and if there were any more formalities left, he was pretty sure Goggle and Papa had taken care of them.

In reality, he needed those few hours to collect himself, get his head on the straight and mentally prepare himself before he gave his statement. Everything was happening so fast and it was all so overwhelming.

 _‘You deserve a time out’,_ chuckled a voice inside his head which sounded a lot like Aman.

“Yeah I fucking do”, whispered Kartik under his breath. Right now all he wanted to do was to see Aman and hold his unconscious lover’s hand until he could feel himself calming down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The POV's are just all over the place, aren't they?
> 
> God, the more I write, the more I hate myself.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Pride Month!  
> This is my Gift to you Gays.  
> Enjoy.

He didn’t like this.

Kartik didn’t like this one bit.

This was not Aman.

It couldn’t be.

Kartik loved seeing Aman, the _real_ Aman, with his eyes closed. It was such an adorable look on his Aman.

But this was all wrong.

This Aman didn’t look endearing at all.

This Aman looked pale and ghostly.

This Aman looked defeated and probably in a lot of pain.

This Aman’s didn’t hold his hand as tightly as the real Aman did.

 _This_ Aman was a zombie-clone version of _his_ Aman.

And how did Kartik know this Aman wasn’t real?

Because the real Aman would probably roll his eyes and smile inwardly at that comparison.

Kartik sniffled. He cleared his throat in an attempt to speak but it still came out croaky when he said, “Hey, fake-Aman could you please bring back my real-Aman from where you are hiding him? Please? I really need him y’know. Uske siwaay mera iss duniya mein ‘apna’ kehne wala koi nahi hai. Jo Mummy, Papa aur Family mili hai woh usi ki badaulat mili hai. Woh agar jaldi wapas nahi aaya toh shayad main inhe bhi kho du. So please, vinati hai.” [“Hey, fake-Aman could you please bring back my real-Aman from where you are hiding him? Please? I really need him y’know. There’s no one in this world, except him, whom I can call ‘my own’. The Mummy, Papa and Family that I have, are all because of him. If he doesn’t return soon then maybe I’ll lose them too. So please, I request you.”]

Kartik burst into tears, where he sat beside Aman’s hospital bed. The pain was too much to even keep his head up. He couldn’t even bear to look at the one person whom loved more than life itself. The one person whose hand he had promised to hold through their happy times and through the difficult ones. The person whose hand he held right now. He bowed his tired head over their clasped hand and cried over it. Cried to his heart’s content. Cried till there were no more tears left to shed.

Only after that, did he dare to look up and look into his lover’s face once again. He took a deep breath, brought Aman’s hand close to his lips and kissed it. Then he stood up to kiss Aman’s forehead and whispered to his Husband a promise to come right back to him once he was done at the Police Station, and to ask him to stay right where he is until then; before straightening back up, taking _another_ deep breath, wiping his tears and saying, “OK. Into the battlefield”, and walking out of the hospital room.

And as he walked out, he felt… Lighter. A lot lighter than before.

Maybe this really was the _real_ Aman. Because only his _realest_ Aman could calm his heart down like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is dedicated to Rasnak because you asked for it and for sticking around and religiously commenting on every new chapter since the beginning. This Fandom is lucky to have you.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I named the badass police character Arjun Pandey cuz Arjun is my favorite Mahabharat character and his father's name was Pandu. (Also, cuz I really like the name 'Arjun')
> 
> Fun fact no. 2: When i had thought of this plot, I hadn't known back then that the current world scenario would turn out to be this way (obviously), changing the public's perspection towards police so drastically.
> 
> Fun fact no. 3: Black Lives Matter!

He was staring at the menu on the wall, trying to decide what to eat, when a (somewhat) familiar voice called out to him, “Hey there, Mr. Singh!” from somewhere on his right.

He turned towards the voice to see a familiar face. At first he couldn’t recognize who the person was but then it struck, “Hello, Officer…”, he still couldn’t remember the name of though.

Luckily, the officer did not seem to mind and “Arjun Pandey”, he supplied before extending his hand towards Kartik.

“Right”, said Kartik as he shook his hand. “I’m sorry I couldn’t remember your name because we never actually got introduced”, said Kartik with an awkward chuckle.

Arjun gave a genuine chuckle, in response to that, before saying, “I guess that would be my fault. I was just standing there throughout the whole interrogation, barely speaking. I guess I could have at least introduced myself.”

“You seemed too busy following every command of Inspector Sharma”, Kartik smiled. “By the way, what are you doing here?”

“Trying to get a coffee”, Arjun sighed. “God, I’m exhausted.”

“Ooh, you don’t want that”, Kartik remarked.

“Why not?” Arjun asked quizzically, to which Kartik replied by pointing towards the Hospital Coffee Machine which looked two pumps of espresso away from its grave. Arjun followed the direction in which Kartik pointed and when his eyes fell on the Coffee Machine in question, his eyes widened and he just stared at it, horrified.

“You didn’t answer my question though”, pointed out Kartik.

“Hmm?” Arjun furrowed his eyebrows and turned back towards Kartik.

“What are you doing here?”

“I told you. Coffee.”

“Oh please”, Kartik rolled his eyes. “In the Hospital, Arjun! Yaha hospital mein kya kar rahe ho?!” [“In the Hospital, Arjun! What are you doing here in the Hospital?!”]

“Oh! Achha! Sorry”, Arjun said scratching the back of his head. “I’m here to see someone, a family member.”

“May I ask who?”

“Father”, he said simply, before changing the topic instantly by saying, “By the way, aap yaha cafeteria mein khade kya kar rahe ho?” [“By the way, what are you doing, standing here in the cafeteria?”]

“Official reason?” he turned to Arjun to address him, before turning his attention back again at the menu board and speaking, “Family ko bhookh lagi hai, aur main yaha ye pata lagane ka koshish kar raha hoon ki yaha ke kaunse dishes khaane layak hai aur unn khaane layak dishes mein se meri full-vegeterian family ko kuch pasand bhi ayega ya nahi.” [“The family hungers, and I’m here trying to figure out which one of the dishes are edible and among those edible dishes, which ones would be liked by my full-vegeterian family.”]

“And the unofficial reason?” Arjun asked softly.

“I just want to escape”, Kartik said now looking down at his feet. When he looked up again at Arjun, he pointed out, “NOT from Aman! God no.”

“I never said you were”, Arjun said lightly. He gestured towards one of the vacant tables in the corner of the cafeteria and said, “Maybe we should sit down.”

Kartik followed suit. He sat down facing Arjun with a large exasperated and tired sigh. He was trying to avoid meeting Arjun’s eyes. Maybe to dodge the inevitable question that Arjun was bound to ask. Maybe to actually muster up the courage to answer said question, before Arjun had the chance to even ask.

“Family ka utra hua shakal dekhne ka mann nahi karta” [“I don’t like seeing the sad faces of my family.”] , Kartik spoke first, quietly; though it was after a long stretch of awkward silence, since Arjun spared him by not asking the question that Kartik expected him to ask. “Bas usi se bhaagne ki koshish kar raha hoon” [“I’m just trying to escape that”], said Kartik finally looking up at Arjun. “I know ki I’m part of the reason for them being sad all the time. Aman toh……” he trailed off for a second, still not being able to accept the reality of what happened to Aman; before continuing, this time with desperation in his voice, “uske upar chinta karna jayaz hai. That I can deal with. Par main? Itna sab ho jaane ke baad, I understand ki I’m depressed and I know I will not get better until Aman gets better. But every time jab bhi family mein se koi mere taraf dekhta hai, toh unka utra hua mooh aur utar jaata hai, and it makes me feel guilty for making them feel that way, GODDAMNIT!” [“Worrying about him is understandable. I can deal with that. But me? After all that happened, I understand that I’m depressed and I know I will not get better until Aman gets better. But every time any of my family members look at me, their sad faces get even sadder, and it makes me feel guilty for making them feel that way, GODDAMNIT!”]

“God, Kartik. Breathe”, concerned Arjun over Kartik.

Kartik took a deep breath when he realized that he had gotten himself all worked up while trying to explain his situation. “Sorry” he breathed out and tightly closed his eyes shut in embarrassment and regret.

“It’s okay. It happens. You have nothing to apologize for”, Arjun understood.

It seems the dam of emotions finally broke, and that, too, to an almost complete stranger. Kartik smiled inwardly at the thought, after all it was ironic how the person who spend most of his adult life searching family and stability, was now running from it and felt more comfortable in unloading his emotions to a man about whom he only knew two things- his name and his occupation. Not even designation! Kartik only knew that he was in the police. That’s it.

Kartik sniffled. His eyes were brimming with tears. He wiped them up and looked up once again with a smile on his face. “Speaking of family, I’m pretty sure woh log abhi mere hi baare mein baat kar rahe honge. You see, they care about me a lot” [“Speaking of family, I’m pretty sure they are talking about me right now. You see, they care about me a lot”] , he spoke up with a full blown smile this time. The smile faded a little bit when he spoke next, “Pata hai, unhone mujhe Aman ka report bhi na padhne diya? Probably to spare me.” [“D’you know, they didn’t even let me read Aman’s report? Probably to spare me.”]

“They sound like really good people”, Arjun said with a smile.

“They are”, Kartik said with an even bigger smile.

They spent the next few moments basking in the glory of the comfortable silence that stretched between them.

When Arjun spoke up next, his tone was rather serious, “Kartik, about today’s statement…”

“Mujhe uske baare mein baat nahi karni.” [“I don’t wanna talk about it.”]

“Baat nahi karna? Mat karo. Bas mujhe ye bata do ki, tumne sab kuch sach-sach bataya thha ya nahi.” [“You don’t wanna talk about it? Fine. Just tell me whether what you told was the entire truth or not.”]

Kartik’s expression turned into that of a hurt one, “Arey yaar, of course I did! Mera husband yaha hospital mein hai, main har din yaha baith ke ro raha hoon and you think I wouldn’t cooperate?!” [“Come on, of course I did! My husband is here in the hospital, all I do every day is sit here and cry over him and you think I wouldn’t cooperate?!”] then he paused for a second. His eyes widened as if he had hit a realization and then losing all his hysteria, he spoke with a broken voice, “You don’t think I did it, do you?”

“Of course not, Kartik. Tum mere insinuation ko galat samjh baithe” [“Of course not, Kartik. You got my insinuation all wrong”], Arjun tried calming Kartik by speaking softly to him. “I didn’t mean it in that way. It’s just, during your time in the police station, tum anxiety ke kaaran bohot lost se lag rahe thhe. I just felt like asking, in case you missed something. That’s all.”

Kartik took a deep breath trying to calm himself down and then he remembered, “Actually, now that you say it, kuch log hai jinke baare mein main bhool gaya thha. Gunday-mawali type bande. Hummare building se kuch dur, chaiwale ke paas, roz unka adda lagta hai. Aur waha baith ke woh sirf logo ko harass karte hai. Especially ladki chhedna toh unka regular hai. Usually main aur Aman unn logo ke bina mooh lage unn ladkiyon ki help karne ki koshish karte hai, agar koi harass hote hue dikh gaye toh. But last week I think Aman got fed up of their bullshit. He deliberately picked a fight with them! Main khud shock ho gaya thha! Hum unn logo ke isliye mooh nahi lagte kyunki Aman doesn’t like violence, usi ne mujhe insist kiya thha. Warna main thhehera Amitabh Bachchan ka fan, chup kaise rehta?! Anyways, unn gundo ko Aman ka yeh protest achha nahi laga uss waqt. Woh uss bechaare ko wahi dho dete agar main step-in nahi karta. But they gave him a death threat. We didn’t think of it much, but……… Do you think they did it?” [“Actually, now that you say it, there are some people that I forgot about. Goons, gangster type dudes. A few blocks away from our building, near the tea stall, is where they sit every day. And all that they do over there is harass people. Especially catcalling girls, they do it regularly. Usually, Aman and I try to help the girls out without messing with the goons, if we ever see anyone getting harassed. But last week I think Aman got fed up of their bullshit. He deliberately picked a fight with them! Even I was shocked! We don’t mess with them because Aman doesn’t like violence, he insisted me not to. After all I’m an Amitabh Bachcha fan. I am not the kind of person to stay quiet. Anyways, at the time those goons didn’t appreciate Aman protesting in such a way. My poor Aman would have been beaten up right there, if I hadn’t stepped in. But they gave him a death threat. We didn’t think of it much, but……… Do you think they did it?”]

“They could have”, said Arjun taking all of that in. “Don’t worry we will look into it. And give you any protection, if necessary.” Kartik nodded and then Arjun continued to lighten up the mood, “So! Amitabh Bachchan super fan, huh?!” asked Arjun with a smirk and a quirk of his right eyebrow.

“Obviously!” Kartik replied excitedly.

“Me too”, Arjun said, equally as excitedly. “Arey unhi se toh inspire hoke police bana hoon! Ek baar unki film dekhte waqt mere ek dost ne keh diya thha ki real life police kitne unjust aur bikau hote hai. Mujhse woh disrespect bardaasht na hua. Isliye main jnta ka trust police mein wapas lana chata hoon. Amit ji ke respect mein.” [“I became a police officer because he inspired me to! Once upon a time, while watching one of his films, one of my friends stated how real life police is unjust and a sellout. I couldn’t tolerate such a disrespect. That’s why I want to restore public’s trust in the police. As a respect to Amit ji.”]

“Kya baat kar rahe ho?! Shut up!” [“What are you saying?! Shut up!”] Kartik laughed.

“It’s true!”

“He _does_ look cool in a police uniform.”

“ **SO** cool. Oh my God. I mean, don’t get me wrong, main straight hoon. But for Amitabh Bachhan in a police uniform? I’m gay.”

“Pata hai, ‘Yeh dosti hum nahi todenge’ is mine and Aman’s favorite song? Bohot **saare** romantic nostalgias attached hai uss gaane ke saath. Humare saath phere bhi usi gaane pe liye gaye thhe, instead of the _‘mantra’_ s. Though technically, it was ‘chaar phere’ at best” [“D’you know, ‘Yeh dosti hum nahi todenge’ is mine and Aman’s favorite song? There are **so many** romantic nostalgias attached to that song. We took our _‘saath phera’_ on that song, instead of the _‘mantra’_ s. Though technically, it was ‘chaar phere’ at best”], he looked down and smiled remembering that dramatic incident, then he looked up at Arjun and dismissed his curious eyes by laughing it off by saying, “Long story.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet”, Arjun chuckled.

After a while Kartik spoke up, saying, “Not to be disrespectful, but tumhara iss hospital mein kya sachmein koi family member hai ya tum sirf mujhe yaha interrogate karne aaye thhe?” [“Not to be disrespectful, but is there _really_ any of your family member, here in this hospital, or did you just come here to interrogate me?”]

Arjun gave Kartik a mock hurt look putting a hand over his chest and saying dramatically, “How dare you, Mr. Kartik Singh! Of course my father is in this hospital! And I’ll prove it to you. Chalo mere saath!” he said getting up from the table.

Kartik laughed, “No you don’t have to. I believe you.”

“Nahi. Ab yeh meri izzat ka sawal hai. Chalo!” [“No. Now it’s a matter of my reputation. Come on!”]

So Kartik did. He followed him. He was a little bit confused when Arjun headed in the direction opposite to the wards. But he still followed him. He followed him past the cafeteria, past the emergency room, past the reception and to the front of the hospital, where he finally realized, “Fuck you, Arjun Pandey.” He smiled, trying to appear angry.

“Whhhaattt???? He’s the father of our whole nation!”

“You manipulative piece of-“

“I didn’t manipulate you. You were just dumb enough to not realize that we are in the Gandhi Hospital.”

“Marja kutte” it seems Kartik was adopting Mummy Tripathi’s vocabulary nowadays.

Arjun laughed out loud at that. “Achha ab chalta hoon. Mere life mein police-giri ke alawa aur bhi bohot kaam hai” [“Okay I have to take my leave now. There are many things to do in my life, other than policing”] he said, walking away. “Bye.”

“Get lost”, laughed out Kartik, in response; before walking back into the hospital and back to his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kartik is getting back to his old bubbly self again.  
> Nature is healing.  
> We are the virus.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sorry for being late. Life just kept on...hitting.

It had been a few days since Kartik last stepped into, what was supposed to be, his and Aman’s shared haven. After Sunday’s events, their apartment seemed to have lost its ability to bring them the sense of safety, which it had been bringing ever since they stepped foot into this place. Together.

Though it had been a few days, it seemed a million years had passed since he last saw the front door to his apartment. From the outside, it seemed like nothing had changed. The makeshift ‘nameplate’ still hung from a nail on the door. He still remembers the day they put it up. Kartik’s clumsiness would have led to a broken finger that day, while hammering that nail, if not for Aman being his eagle eyed self and watching over Kartik like a mother watches over her child.

Now, the ‘nameplate’, that was the cutest idea Aman ever had. Since, at the time, they did not have the money for an actual nameplate, Aman suggested they buy one of those slate/chalkboard things that the kids use in the government schools to make a DIY nameplate out of it, for the time being, until they saved up for an actual nameplate. So Kartik bought it, and Aman wrote Kartik’s name on the top left of the board, in his typical bold cursive strokes and Kartik wrote Aman’s name on the bottom right, in his messy chicken-scratch capital letters handwriting. Kartik had also bought a sheet of letter stickers which children used in projects, from which he stuck the ‘&’ in the centre of the board. And that’s what their ‘nameplate’ was, though in hindsight it was probably a bad idea.

The neighbors’ kids, especially Mrs. Ahuja’s bratty children, would sometimes rub off or mess up the lettering. So ‘Kartik & Aman’ became- ‘ arti & ma ’, ‘Ka t & man’, ‘ a tik & A an’. Sometimes it would turn sexual- ‘ a i & A a ‘; and sometimes the kids would add letters with a chalk and it would turn to feminine versions of their names- ‘Kartiki & Amina’; which, in turn, gave them idea to write ‘K & Amina’ (read: Kamina).

The only reason those kids kept coming back to cause such mischief again and again, was because most of the time Kartik just laughed their juvenile acts off. Aman used to get annoyed, but nowadays even he can’t deny that day-by-day these kids keep getting more creative with this little game of theirs. Sometimes, Kartik would encourage the kids and give them new ideas, just to see Aman’s annoyed face. Aman usually addressed their brattyness calmly, despite his underlying annoyance, because he didn’t want to be labeled the ‘grumpy uncle’ of the neighborhood.

Also, angry-Aman sex is Kartik’s favorite kind of sex.

Reasons like this is why they never got around to buying a _real_ nameplate.

Reminiscing on such beautiful memories was a bliss in such trying times. Kartik couldn’t help the tiny smile on his face as he turned the handle on his front door. But the darkness that welcomed him, reminded him why he was afraid to come back here in the first place. The overwhelming disappointment and pain that he felt upon seeing the now cleaned up apartment for the first time after “The Incident”, almost had his knees buckling.

Which is why you keep your family close in times like this.

Rajni and Papa stood by his side while Mummy followed from behind. Just by their presence alone, Kartik had enough strength in his heart to face his demons and walk in to the place they called ‘home’.

Ever since Arjun called him this morning, informing him about having cleared out his apartment and that he can go back, Kartik had been dreading this moment. The moment when he walked back into his ‘home’, which was now devoid of everything that _made_ it ‘home’. But now that he _did_ walk in and turn on the lights, he did not feel as many negative emotions that he had initially anticipated he would be feeling. All thanks to the Tripathis.

 _God he was thankful for them. From Mummy, Papa and Goggle spending all of their waking moments taking care of Aman and Kartik, to Chacha, Chachi and Keshav calling everyday for updates; the Tripathis cared a lot._ _This is **more** than everything Kartik could have asked for, in his entire life._

Since it had been a few days of Kartik staying away from the comfort of his home, Mummy and Papa decided that they all should stay the night here. Aman was recovering slowly but surely and their presence in the hospital was almost redundant. Their presence would be of utmost importance only when Aman woke up. So they figured that not many things could go bad if they stayed away just _one_ night.

Kartik insisted that Mummy and Papa take the bedroom and Goggle decided to take the couch, forcing Kartik into the tiny-yet-comfortable single bed in the guest bedroom (or at least that’s what Aman and Kartik called that tiny ass barely-bigger-than-a-closet spare room).

Shankar and Sunaina didn’t like the idea at first, saying that they didn’t wanna put Kartik out of his own bedroom, but truth be told Kartik was afraid. Kartik was afraid that he would turn towards the other side of the other side of the bed in his sleep and find Aman's side empty. Kartik was afraid of the nightmares he might have since Aman wasn’t here to hold him through them. Kartik was afraid to wake up in the morning and not find Aman's sleepy face/his ‘happy place' beside him.

When Kartik worded all of those thoughts out loud, the family understood. And after hearing what Kartik had to say, Rajni forced him into the “guest bedroom” because what’s worse than the fear of void of loneliness that’s left there by your lover? Re-living a traumatic experience over and over again in your brain by trying to sleep on the couch of the Living Room. The Living Room, where said trauma started after said lover was found there, brutally assaulted and unconcious.

It was 04:13 A.M. and Kartik was wide awake. Clearly, not sleeping in the living room didn’t help much, considering that he didn’t sleep a wink in the guest room either. Throughout the night Kartik’s mind was running. Kartik wanted to stay strong because he could see how much his recent emotional state was hurting the family. They didn’t mention it out loud of course, but he could see the hurt in his eyes. He so desperately wanted to be the person they knew him as but it was proving to be rather difficult for him. No one would blame him if he wasn’t his previous, jovial self in front of everyone, but he wanted to do this for them. He wanted to be _that_ Kartik, _the old Kartik_ for his and Aman’s family. Mummy, Papa and Goggle are here for the Tripathi sons (that’s what Rajni called their _jodi_ while consolidating Kartik, after she found him sulking self-deprecatingly one too many times) helping them, supporting them, because Kartik and Aman need them in this time of crisis. They are already in so much pain seeing Aman hurt. Kartik would be damned before _he_ became the cause of their sadness as well.

So, in an attempt to improve his mental condition, to make himself remember what it was like to be happy, he spent the entirety of his sleepless night thinking about the love of his life, especially reminiscing on all those rare moments that had brought a smile on Aman’s face or the even rare-er moments when Aman gave one of his full body laughters at Kartik’s stupid antics (because otherwise Aman would rather roll his eyes when Kartik is being his OTT dumbass self in a public setting, resulting in being the cause of embarrassment).

After all, why SHOULDN’T Kartik think about Aman in an attempt to stay happy in these trying times? Aman was the best thing that had happened to him in a long time. And truth be told, Kartik didn’t have a lot of good things in his life to associate his happiness with.

But in times of crisis, even happy memories come with their fair share of tears. Kartik wiped his own wetness from his face, for what seemed to be the billionth time that night and broke himself out of his daze to look at the time.

4:29, the clock read. It was still rather early but it was as good a time as any to get up. It’s not like he was getting any sleep laying in bed either. He got up to fetch himself a glass of water (crying tends to dehydrate a person) and as he walked towards the kitchen, he glanced at the Living Room to see if Rajni was uncomfortable while sleeping on the couch, only to find her snoring peacefully. On a normal day, Kartik would have found it amusing and perhaps even video recorded it to tease her later. But recently, he just didn’t have the kind of energy to bring himself to do that.

Before he could enter the kitchen, he heard knocking on the front door. Rajni was in her deep slumber, so she clearly didn’t hear it. So it was upon Kartik to check out who it was that up so early in the morning knocking on their door. Kartik was little skeptical about opening the door though, and honestly? who wouldn’t be! It was 4:30 in the morning. The sun wasn’t even up! And to add on top of that, one of the two residents of this particular apartment had been beaten up bloody not even a week ago! You can’t blame Kartik for being scared. In that moment, Kartik really wished their front door had a peep hole. For a second, Kartik debated waking up the family but they had already been very tired, both physically and emotionally, from the hardships of the past few days. So selfless-Kartik decided to take a leap of faith thinking, _‘What’s the worst that can happen?’_

The worst did happen. On the other side of the door, Kartik found all the answers to his multiple days’ worth of questions. Everything became crystal clear- the violence, the assault, **_EVERYTHING!_**

Seeing the face of the two men who stood in front of him, Kartik felt like laughing at himself for being so blind. _‘Of course the reason behind all my pain originates from One. Single. Person’_ , he thought to himself bitterly.

Then all of sudden there was a loud bang, the sound of which seemed to have pierced his ear drums. His ears were ringing. But before he could bring his hands up to cover his ears, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen and looked down to see the front of his night shirt covered in blood.

The last thing he saw was the gun before seeing the two men running away at the sound of a distant scream which sounded a lot like Goggle. There was nothing but darkness afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHY DO I KEEP HURTING MY BABIES??!!! OMG SOMEBODY STOP ME!!!!!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, i'm posting this at 12:30 at night what about it?  
> And no I'm not updating after 3 weeks you are just reading it 3 weeks late >:P

** 16 hours earlier **

“So! Ma’am! How was your day?!” Arjun just barged into the Inspector’s cabin like, #NoFucksGiven. (Seriously, who the fuck allowed him on the force and how the fuck wasn’t he fired yet)

“Arjun! Just the man I need!” said Inspector Sharma looking up from where she was peering down on her file. (Maybe because he had a senior like Razia watching his back for him, while he was out there being his loud self) “Since we don’t have much leads, I was thinking about looking into the Boyfriend’s past. I am looking into his file right now and his history is nothing but a pitch black void. There’s not a SINGLE information on his childhood, except for his birth certificate and school records, and even the school records are not complete.”

“Umm… Actually, we DO have a lead and I don’t think Kartik’s capable of doing something like that to Aman. He loves him too much. You saw him! You saw how he was!” Arjun stated frankly.

“Or he is a great actor. You know how psychopaths are good at faking emotions,” said the Inspector. “Also, what lead?”

“Kartik ne bataya thha ki kuchh gunday hai jinse uske aur uske Husband ka muthhbhed hua tha” [“Kartik told me that he and his Husband had an encounter with the local goons”], said Arjun. “Area mein poochhtach karke pata chala banda apna regular hai.” [“Investigation in said area led to the knowledge that said bad-guy is a regular here in our police station”]

“Let me guess, Ramu aur uske chamche” [“Letme guess, Ramu and his sidekicks”]

“Bingo” he said pointing a finger at her.

“Yeh saale MLA logo ki assholery toh aaye din jhelni hi padti hai. Upar se Ramu Dada jaise unke family members rahenge toh hum police walo ki toh……” [“We already have to deal with the assholeries of the MLAs quite often. And when you add their relatives like Ramu Dada in our routine, then us Police Oficcers are just……”] trailed off the frustrated Inspector. “Plus tu victim ke husband ke saath first-name-basis pe kaise aaya? Aur Kartik Singh, Aman Tripathi ka _husband_ hai?!” [“Plus, how are you on a first-name-basis with the victim’s husband? Also, Kartik Singh is Aman Tripathi’s _husband_?!”]

“Woh main…” [“Well, I…”]

“Kya ‘main’?!” [“What ‘I’?”]

“Woh main Kartik Singh ke bayan se utna satisfied nahi thha. Toh mujhe laga ki Hospital jaake dekhlu, ho sakta hai shayad kuch pata chal jaaye. But then I struck a conversation with him, aur banda bohot hi achha nikla. Recent events ke kaaran bechaara thoda messed up thha. Thoda mind free hua, toh woh bhi bol pada! Mil gaya lead!” [“Well, I wasn’t satisfied with Kartik Singh’s statement. So I thought that I should give him a visit at the Hospital, maybe I’ll get something out of him. But then I struck a conversation with him, and came to know that the guy is super nice. Because of the recent events that he’d been through, poor guy was messed up. When his mind freed up a bit, he started speaking! And I got a lead!”], said Arjun, happily. “But, lekin, manna padega ma’am, banda bohot hi woke hai. Hum dono ki khub jami.” [“But I have to mention, guy’s very woke. We hit it off real nice.”]

“Arjun, calm down. Professionalism. Please”, Razia chuckled. “But then again, woke hai toh dosti toh tere saath honi hi thhi. If didn’t know better, I’d say its like a fetish for you.” [“But then again, if he’s woke he was bound to be your friend. If didn’t know better, I’d say its like a fetish for you.”]

“Aise mat boliye, ma’am” [“Don’t say it like that, ma’am”], Arjun blushed.

Razia laughed at Arjun’s reaction. But with a little more serious tone, she said, “But seriously though, I’m not letting Kartik off the hook just yet.”

“Ma’am…” Arjun started saying, but Razia beat him to it.

“Look Arjun, I don’t like this either. I want to believe that Kartik is innocent too. But there are no leads to follow, except for the one that you’ve _now_ given me, and Mr. Singh has a shady past. That makes him a suspect and we can’t leave any stones unturned. So we’ll investigate, and if he’s innocent, then he’s innocent. Nothing to worry about.”

“That tone in which you just spoke? Really makes me feel like you are mother hen-ing me right now”, spoke Arjun, with a hint of smile.

“Whatever”, she rolled her eyes. “Aman aur Kartik ke apartment ki investigation poori ho chuki hai. The place has been cleaned out. Family ko bata dena hai ki woh ab ghar waapas jaa sakte hai” [“The Investigation at Kartik and Aman’s apartment is done. The place has been cleaned out. The Family needs to be informed that they can go back there.”]

“I can do that.”

“Good”, she said. “So I guess now we assemble a team and follow up on the leads. I guess we’ll give your lead a visit first ‘cause its closer.”

“Yess”, Arjun pumped his fists.

“And stop acting like a child. You’re an officer of the Law. There is dignity in that title.”

“Arrey Ma’am, police ki job itni demanding aur stressful hoti hai. Inn sab ke beech aadmi kisi tarha toh apni happiness aur sanity barkaraar rakkhega na. Toh life mein thoda bachpana hi sahi. I know kabhi kabhi thoda irritating ho jata hai, but please- Live and Let Live, Ma’am. Vinati hai” [“Well, Ma’am the police’s job is so demanding and stressful. Amidst all of this, a man has to find a way to keep his happiness and sanity intact. So, I do it by being childish. I know it gets irritating sometimes, but please- Live and Let Live, Ma’am. It’s a request.”], he said joining his hands and begging her.

Workplace banter like this was a common occurance between Inspector Sharma and Sub-Inspector Pandey. Sometimes Shaki joined in on it as well. It helped keep the teams’ spirits up.

** 15 hours and 30 minutes earlier **

They arrived at the place specified by Kartik, only to catch Ramu Dada and his goons red handed, in the act of catcalling and harassment of general public.

 _‘Perfect’_ the Inspector thought to herself. “Mishra ji, aap keh rahe thhe na ki aapne naya phone liya hai?” [“Mr. Mishra, weren’t you telling us about the new phone that you bought?”] she asked to one of the constables sitting in back seat.

“Haa, madam!”, he replied.

“Toh dikhayiye uska jalwa! Banaiye unn logo ka video” [“Then show us its glam! Record those people”], she said pointing towards the catcallers. “Shayad kabhi yeh video kaam aa jaye.” [“Maybe this video may come in handy some time.”

“Ji madam”, he smiled happily because of getting a chance to show off his new phone, and did as he was told. Once they were convinced that they had enough evidence, they got out of the police vehicle.

She walked up to those assholes like a tiger. Those goons straightened up as soon as they saw her and her handful of other police officers approach them. Some of the lower level sidekicks scrambled to run away from the officers before they had the chance to spot them, but Shakti had keen eyes. She wasn’t letting anyone escape. She grabbed them by their collars and dragged them back towards the rest of the bunch.

Razia liked playing with her food before moving on to the REAL fun stuff. So when then all the goons were rounded up, she spoke with amusement in her heart and thunder in her voice, “Yaha kya chal raha hai?” [“What’s going on here?!”]

Now, the leader, Ramu Dada, wasn’t afraid of the police (perks of being the relative of an MLA), so with a cocky grin he replied, “Jo dikh raha hai.” [“Whatever you just saw.”]

Razia gave a smile of her own, before backhanding him right across his face.

Ramu Dada’s reaction of disbelief was absolutely _stunning_. Though unfortunately, that look didn’t last long before it distorted into that of self-righteous anger. By the looks of it, he was about to scream in her face, but she beat him to it.

“Isse pehle ki tu transfer ki dhamki de, Mishra ji…” [“Before you threaten me with a transfer, Mr. Mishra…”] she said holding out her hand to the constable with the brand new phone in his hand. Once the phone was in the palm of her hand, she continued, “Tu yeh dekh…” [“Watch this…”]. As she showed him the video, she said, “Tera MLA tujhe jail se bachaa sakta hai. Lekin yeh video agar online chali gayi aur kisi ne galti se bata diya ki tu MLA ka sambandhi hai, toh tere MLA ki kursi hil jayegi. Toh ab tu hi bata, tu seedhe-seedhe Police Station chalkar interrogation mein cooperate karega, ya iss video ko viral kare hum?” [“Your MLA can save you from jail time. But if this video goes online and if anyone were to reveal the fact that you are a relative of the MLA then your MLA may lose his position. So now you tell me, would you like to come with us to the Police Station and cooperate on our investigation, or should we make this video go viral?”]

** 14 hours earlier **

Razia walked up to the empty chair placed right in front of Ramu Dada & company, who were sitting on the floor. She sat down with authority and said, “Toh, Ramu Dada. Tu khud confess karega ya special treatment chahiye?” [“So, Ramu Dada, would you like to confess to your crimes, or do we need to provide you with special treatment?”]

“Kya confess?” [“Confess what?”] asked Ramu, looking a bit confused.

“Mishra ji?” Razia indicated him to proceed with his billy-club. She was clearly not in a mood for any games.

“Arey,re,re,re,re. Ma’am, ma’am, ma’am, please. Batata hoon.” He said raising his hands in a defensive posture. “Haan. Main ladkiyo ki chhedkhani karta hoon. Par isiliye kyunki meri bandi mujhe ghaas nahi daalti. Toh kisi tareeke se toh apni mardaani barkaraar rakhni padegi na.” [“Yes. I harass women. But only because my crush doesn’t notice me. I have to keep my masculinity intact in some way.”]

She was so disgusted after hearing that that she couldn’t help but slap his idiotic face before pulling his face close by his collar and saying, “Abey chutiye, main iss harkat ki baat nahi kar rahi hoon. Lekin phir bhi, _chhee_ kitni neech harkat aur mentality hai.” [“Yo fucker, I’m not talking about this bullshit. But still, _eww_ that’s such a lowly behavior and mentality.”] She turned to Arjun and said, “Pandey ji, inn logo ke iss confession ko note kijiye.” [“Mr. Pandey, note down this confession of theirs.”] And then turning back to Ramu, she addressed, “Aur tu yeh bata ke Aman Tripathi pe attack kyun karwaya thha?” [“And you tell me why did you arrange the attack on Aman Tripathi?”]

As a reply, she was only met with scared silence.

“Bol!” [“Speak!”]

With a scared-shitless voice Ramu said, “Ab agar poochhunga ‘kaun Aman Tripathi?’ toh aap maarogi. Usse achha hai muh band rakhoon.” [“Now if I were to ask you ‘Aman Tripathi who?’ then you’ll hit me. Its better that I keep my mouth shut.”]

“Abey yaar”, she said massaging her now aching forhead. She turned towards Shakti and extended her hand towards her, saying, “File pass kijiye, Malhotra Ji.” [“Pass the file, Ms. Malhotra.”] Razia pulled out a photo from said file. It was a photo of Aman and Kartik, with Kartik having his hand over Aman’s shoulder in a side hug. She turned the photo towards the criminals. She tapped her finger on the side of the photo where Aman stood and said, “Yeh Aman Tripathi.”

“Madam humne ispe koi hamla nahi karwaya. Sach mein. Sach boloon toh bohot din ho gaye hai kisi ko daraaye-dhamkaye hue. Unke elect hone ke baad se hi band kar diya thha yeh sab kaam. Kuch hafte pehle jab yeh banda mere muh laga thha, tab gussa aya thha par humare MLA sahib koi danga-fasaad nahi chahte thhe toh hum chup reh gaye.” [“Madam we didn’t order any attack on him. Believe me. Truth be told, we haven’t tried to threaten/attack anyone in a very long time. We stopped these acts ever since he got elected. A few weeks back, when this guy mouthed off on us, we _were_ angry but our MLA didn’t want any bitch-fights so we had to cool down.”]

The rest of his fellow goons nodded along with him, agreeing to the facts that he stated.

“Aur main teri baaton ka vishwaas kyun karoon?” [“And why should we believe you?”]

“Vishwaas kariye ya na kariye, meri toh dono taraf se lag gayi hai. Ab main jhoothh bolke kya hi kar lunga.” [“Believe it or don’t believe it, I’m fucked from both sides. What have I got to achieve by lying to you”]

“Thheek hai” [“Okay”], she said, and walked out of the _thana_ lockup.

Razia along with her team didn’t trust these hooligans as far as they could throw them. So Razia decided to leave those gangsters locked up for as long as possible. They were left there to stew in their own thoughts, in case they had anything more to add to the case that they may have forgotten to indulge the police on.

Until then, they had another (possible) lead to follow.

** 10 hours earlier **

They arrived at the location to find the rickety looking front door locked from the outside. No one was home.

A few feet to the right, there was another door but this one wasn’t quite as dilapidated. It was varnished with a few pictures of Hindu Gods and Goddesses pasted on it. Razia guessed these were the neighbors and if the sound of the _Chhota Bheem_ theme song coming from inside the said door was anything to go by, the neighbors were home. She knocked on it three times and a woman’s voice saying “Aa rahe hai” [“I’m coming”], could be heard. The door opened to reveal a woman in an olive green saree who, as soon as she saw the police uniform, immediately called out to her husband, before Razia even had the chance to introduce herself.

The husband approached them, as the wife retreated back inside the house, hurriedly shutting off the TV and taking the kids inside with her, with a look that implied that she was scared shitless. The husband, a middle aged half bald man in a decent yet comfortable looking _kurta-pajama_ and thick framed glasses, put on a calm smile and extended his hand to introduce himself, “Hello, myself Arvind Kumar. Aap yaha kisliye?” [“What brings you here?”]

“Main Inspector Razia Sharma”, she said shaking his hand. “Aap kitne saalon se yaha rehte hai?” [“How long have you lived here?”]

“Madam yeh ghar humare dadaji ne khareeda thha. Hum yahapar bachpan se reh rahe hai” [“Madam this house was bought by my Grandfather. We have been living here since childhood”], he said with a hint of pride in his voice.

“Toh aapko toh Kartik Singh ke baare mein pata hi hoga? Uske baare mein kuch sawaalon ke jawab de sakte hai hume?” [“Then you must know about Kartik Singh. Can you answer some of our questions about him?”]

“Kartik, wahi bagal waale Singh sahib ka beta na?” [“Kartik, that neighbor Mr. Singh’s son?”]

“Haa” [“Yes”]

“Arey woh toh bohot achha bachcha thha, bade pyaar se baat karta thha. Lekin uss waqt hume kya pata thha ki woh aisa niklega.” [“O h he was such a nice kid, talked so politely. But back then we didn’t know that he’d turn out like this.”]

“Kaisa niklega?” [“Turn out how?”] Arjun asked, with a hint of offence in his voice.

“Arey bhaiya, aap toh young generation ke hai, aapko toh pata hi hoga. Woh _woh_ thha.” [“Ayy brother, you are the youth, you must know. He was _it_.”]

“Gay”, said Arjun, sporting a bitch-face.

“Haa” the man whispered. His response was as if Arjun had said ‘Voldemort’.

Arjun just angrily rolled his eyes and kept his mouth shut.

“Par jo bhi kahiye sir, ladka jo bhi thha, jaisa bhi thha; uska baap usse jitna maarta thha, utna toh hum kisi jaanwar ko bhi na maare” [“But still, whatever he was, however he was; he didn’t deserve to be beaten worse than animals, like his father did”], he said with a tone of regret and disgust in his voice.

“Domestic Abuse?” Razia inquired angrily. “Aap logo ne complain nahi ki?” [“And you people didn’t file a complaint?”]

“Uss samay meri utni aqal kaha thhi? Aur jab tak aqal aayi, tab pata chala ki Kartik waisa hai, aur uske kuch hafto baad hi Kartik ghar chhor ke bhaag gaya.” [“Back then, I didn’t have much understanding of these things. And by the time I understood it, I came to know that Kartik is like that, and Kartik ran away from home a few weeks after that.”]

“Bhaag gaya? Kitne saal ka thha ki woh bhaag gaya aur uske papa ne missing report bhi nahi darj karwaayi” [“Ran away? How old was he that he ran away and his father didn’t even bother to file a complaint.”]

“Yahi kuch 16-17 ka hoga tab. Aur missing report toh apne gusse ke wajah se darj nahi karwayi. Unhe laga ladka toh waapas aa hi jayega. Aur agar nahi aaya toh bina khaana-paani ke kitna hi der zinda rehta. Dono taraf se Singh ji ko laga ki unhi ki jeet hai, isiliye unhone kuch nahi kiya. Aur hume laga ki kyun doosro ke maamlo mein dakhal-andazi kare toh humne bhi chhor diya. Waise bhi uss tarah ke ladke ko kaun apne ilaake mein rakhna chahega? Aap hi bataiye?” [“He was about 16-17 back then. And his father didn’t file a missing report because he was angry. He expected the boy to come home. And even if he didn’t, its not like he would survive for long without food and water. Singh thought it was a win-win situation for him, that’s why he didn’t do anything. And we figured ‘Why interfere in someone else’s matter?’ so we let it go as well. Also, who’d wanna keep a boy like him in their neighborhood? You tell me?”]

“Nabaalik thha woh. Yeh shukr manaiye ki zinda bach gaya. Mar jata toh uska baap toh andar jaata hi, uske iss apraadh ko hota dekh kar chup rehne ke wajah se aap bhi andar jaa sakte thhe!” [“He was a minor. Be glad that he survived. If he’d died then his father would have obviously been arrested, but you’d have been arrested too for aiding and abetting in this crime by not speaking up!”] Razia basically screamed at his face. “Aap logo ki koi responsibility banti hai ya nahi?!” [“Don’t you people have a sense of responsibility?”]

Mr. Kumar didn’t have an answer to that question. He simply looked down with a guilty look.

Razia gave out an exasperated sigh, “Achha ab yeh bataiye ki aapke jo ‘Singh sahib’ hai woh kaha milenge?” [“OK now tell me, where can we find your ‘Singh sahib’?”]

“Woh toh nahi pata memsahib” [“We don’t know about that, Ma’am”], he said looking up. “Woh kuch dino se ghar par nahi hai.” [“He’s not been home for a few days.”]

“Aksar jaate rehte hai kya aise?” [“Does he often go off like this?”]

“Nahi madam. Yeh toh pehli baar hua hai ki itne lambe samay ke liye ghar se door rahe hai. Unki kisi se zyada jamti nahi hai. Isliye woh toh humesha akele ghar mein hi rehte thhe. Bas raat mein daaru peene chale jaate hai.” [“No madam. It’s the first time that he’s been away from home for such a long time. He doesn’t play well with others. That’s why he’s always alone at home. He only goes out at night for alcohol.”]

“Achha aapki unse kab aakhri baar mulaqat hui thhi?” [“OK when did you see him last?”]

“Yahi kuch… 2-3 din pehle.” [“Just about… 2-3 days ago.”]

“2-3 din pehle” [“2-3 days ago”], she repeated turning towards Arjun with a look, and he seemed to catch up on her indication, as he nodded once in response. “Acchha aaj ke liye sirf itna hi. Dubara aapki zaroorat hogi toh phir wapas aayenge,” [“OK that’s it for today. If we need you again, we’ll be back.”] she said to Mr. Kumar.

She was walking away, when Mr. Kumar spoke up again, now with curiosity in his voice, “Par hua kya hai?” [“But what happened?”]

Razia turned her neck in his direction, and with a raised eyebrow and sassy tone, she said, “Sahi time pe toh aap ek bachche ki bhi madad na kar paaye. Ab ye jaan ke aap kaunsa pahad ukhaad lenge?” [“When you had the opportunity, you couldn’t even help a child. So its not like you can conquer Mount Olympus by gaining the knowledge of ‘What happened’. Can you?”]

As she walked away, and as Arjun followed her trail, he was grinning ear to ear. He was totally star-struck at her badass response. And as soon as he entered the Police vehicle, he couldn’t help but comment, “Ma’am aaj toh aap chha gayi” [“Ma’am you kicked ass today”] in a fanboy-ish tone.

As the driver drove away, she gave a short laugh before saying, “Arjun you have a long way to go in your career. Aise chutiye bohot milenge. Aur yahi log hote hai, jo crime dekh ke chup rehte hai, jo desh dubaate hai. Unko bina gaali bole gaali dena, jaldi hi seekh jaoge.” [“Arjun you have a long way to go in your career. You’ll have an encounter with many fuckers like him. And these are the kind of people, who stay quiet in the face of crime, who ruins our country. To curse them, without cursing them, is a skill that you’ll learn rather quickly.”] she turned to wink at Arjun.

In that moment, Arjun was flabbergasted. He felt like he was seeing God.

_Maybe Ariana Grande was right. God **is** a woman._

** Right Fucking Now! **

Arjun stirred at the sound of his phone buzzing.

 _‘What time is it even?’_ was his first thought, as he slapped his hand all over around the bedside table in an attempt to locate the phone without having to open his eyes.

Once the phone was in his hand, he peeked with one half-opened eye to slide the receive icon, before going back to his original position and groaning a “Hello?”

But what he heard from the other side, had him sitting up with extreme urgency. All of his sleep was gone; all at once. All at the words, “Kartik Singh has been shot. He’s been taken to the Hospital but he is in critical condition.”

_How the fuck could this happen?!_

_Fuck, fuck, fuck._

**_FUCK!_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK so my exams are coming and i've oficially hit a writer's block at this point. And in the words of the great Captain Marvel:  
> So you may not see me for a while.  
> Brain: You say it like you were posting regularly before this.  
> Me: Shut your whore mouth up, fuck turd.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in my defence, this time I did not procrastinate. This is the first time I've been free since my last update. I hate my shool and escpecially, being an important member of the school. I thought it'd be fun, but no, too much responsibilites. Also, most people in my school is worthless, especially the teachers.

The Tripathi’s really _did_ care. They cared a lot. They cared about Aman and Kartik just like any other parent would care for their children, and then they cared some more because living in a world like this one, in a society like this one, they’d need it. They’d need all the love and support they could get from the people around them. Despite their initial anger, despite their denial to accept Aman as the person that he truly was and their denial to accept Kartik into the family as a son-in-law; they grew to care.

Perhaps it was the desperation in Aman’s voice when he tried to make them understand, perhaps it was Kartik’s show of courage for his love when they _didn’t_ understand, or perhaps it was both of their collective defiance of the societal norm that the family’s mindset was a slave of; but somewhere in that week their love had managed to make the traditional ways of the Tripathi household die at their feet and with it arose, like a phoenix from its ashes, love, acceptance and _care_.

And that wasn’t the only time that Aman and Kartik had survived bigotry and backward mindset and came out victorious. Let’s just say their lives were a lot more difficult than what met the eye (read: India’s Patriarchal Bullshit J). Mummy-Papa Tripathi knew about their struggles of course, despite Mr. and Mr. Singh-Tripathi not saying a word about it to them. After all, they were on the giving end once and still, to this day, they feel somewhat guilty about it.

But Shankar and Sunaina also knew that Aman and Kartik didn’t really need any help as long as they had each other. Kartik’s “I’ll face God and Moonwalk backwards into Hell” attitude, accompanied with Aman’s “Precious cinnamon roll puppy ready to end your entire bloodline if you even _look_ at his family in the wrong way” vibes complement each other so wonderfully, that it could conquer the whole world if they wanted to do so.

So of course the storm came to blow away their lives when they weren’t together to watch out for each other…

Goggle was traumatized. She had it bad. **_Really_ **bad. She heard Kartik getting shot, maybe even saw the faces of the Bad Guys, but for the love of God couldn’t think straight for one second to actually help identify them. There was blood, too much blood. She held her brother ~~-in-law~~ for what seemed like an eternity; trying to put pressure on the wound, trying to stop the blood flow, trying to do **SOMETHING**. It felt like a lifetime passed before the Ambulance showed up.

Goddamnit this was supposed to be a time for healing from the trauma. Aman is in the recovery stage, he’s supposed to wake up any day/any hour now. Kartik is supposed to be here right now, sitting beside Aman in his hospital room, where Goggle is currently situated. But he is not here right now, and Aman has no one to give him company except his dear older sister who could not bear to be where Tauji-Taiji were; waiting in the Hospital Waiting Room, waiting… for their son ~~-in-law~~ Kartik to be okay.

Somehow the two parents with an equally broken heart, let their minds travel to two polar opposite direction. Shankar set to analyze the incidents, trying to piece together a reason, a _motive,_ and maybe even a culprit. On the other hand, Sunaina only thought of the broken lives of her boys and the pain that they were going through. To her, it seemed she could almost feel their pain.

While Shankar was angry at the faceless people responsible for all the turmoil, Sunaina’s hatred spilled on the Gods for letting it happen in the first place. While Shankar worried about the outcome of it all, Sunaina lamented at the sufferings of the present. While Shankar tried to convince himself and his lovely wife that he’ll make it, that they’ll _both_ make it because “woh humaare bachche hai” [“they are our sons”]; Sunaina instructed Shankar to pray with her, to make sure they **DO** make it.

Who would have thought that the broken marriage of Sunaina and Shakar Tripathi would begin to be stitched together by the prayers during tragic times? They certainly didn’t.

Life has a funny way of fixing things. But in this case, life got too impatient. It couldn’t wait for them to finish their prayers, before it delivered the news in the form a phone call from the one and only Rajni Tripathi, saying, “Aman is awake”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell that i have no idea where this story is going, but am too stubborn to give up on it and give it a shitty ending??? :)))))))


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, I completely forgot that I exist.

Arjun was tired, he was on his _[lost-count] th_ cup of coffee today. He was suffering. But he would pull through. Kartik was his friend. Sure, he didn’t know him _too_ well, but still he liked the guy. Whoever did this, whoever was putting this family through all this hell, would pay dearly.

Right now he was at the hospital offering protection to the family, with some of his other subordinates. He had barely talked to any of the family members. Its not like they were in the position to do any talking in the first place. So he showed them some compassion and left them alone for the time being, after acquiring the basic necessary information.

Oh, how much the family had been put through! Their son, Aman, _barely_ survived the hit on him. Cracked ribs and skull, punctured lung, internal bleeds and not to mention the external ones. Oh God. It seemed Aman was a fighter and he fought well. So when Arjun found out that Aman was finally awake, he mentally cheered him for winning the fight. But he also recognized the out-of-the-darkness-into-the-fire situation Aman was about to be in, because the conscious world was not much better than the unconscious one for him right now.

Though he had woken up, he still didn’t have the strength to stay awake. That’s ok, it was a start. But it put everything in a state of pure chaos. As soon as the word reached to Razia, she started prep for the moment when he **_did_** wake up properly. Razia knew that it was cruel to make him relive those past horrifying moments as soon as he woke up, but she also knew that the wrong doers need to be put behind bars as soon as possible. This case may seem like that of a personal vengeance, but in the slight chance that it turned out that it isn’t such, the police would have a bigger problem on their hands. Because if it isn’t personal, that means it’s the work of some homophobic extremist group who are not gonna stop at just Aman and Kartik.

While the Police frantically worked up a storm, the family stayed with Aman. They wanted to make sure that they’ll all be here for him this time. He won’t have to wake up into this world alone (not that they ever left him alone in the first place). They thanked the Gods for the development in their _Guddu’s_ health and prayed (borderline **begged** ) they do the same favor for Kartik. It has been more than a day of Kartik being in surgery and Shankar applauds the hard work of the Surgeons. Kartik’s a warrior but thank God for such amazing Doctors.

“Aapne baki gharwalo ko bataya Aman wali baat?” [“Did you tell the rest of the family about the recent development?”] Sunaina asked Shankar.

Shankar gave a look that said, ‘Oh! Yes, of course I have to tell them’ before going through his pockets for his phone. But before he could find it Goggle said-

“Aap rehne dijiye, main baat karti hoon unse” [“Let it be, I’ll let them know”] Her usual energy seemed to somewhat missing when she said that. She walked out of the room to make the call in peace.

Keshav picked up the phone on the first ring. His voice came, “Kartik Bhaiya kaise hai?” [“How’s Kartik _Bhaiya_?”]

“Abhi bhi surgery mein hai. Par Aman ko kuch minutes ke liye hosh aya tha” [“He’s still in surgery. But Aman woke up for a few minutes.”], Rajni replied.

“Kya?! Ye to bohot achhi baat hai!” [“What?! That’s good news!”]

“Tu mummy Papa ko phone de.” [“Pass the phone to mom and Dad”]

“Haan lijiye” [“Yes here”], as soon as Keshav put the speaker on, Champa’s high pitched voice rang through the phone.

“Kya hua? Kya achhi baat? Kartik thheek hai kya?” [“What happened? What good news? Is Kartik okay now?”]

“Nahi woh abhi bhi surgery mein hai. But its Aman, use hosh aya tha.” [“No, he’s still in surgery. But its Aman, he gained consciousness for a while.”]

“Kya bol rahi ho? Usne kuch bola kya?” [“What are you saying? Did he say something?”], it was Chaman this time.

“Nahi bola to kuch nai, abhi bhi uss stage tak nahi pohocha woh but Doctors bol rahe hai ki this is good. Woh kehte hai ki this means Aman stable tareeke se recover kar raha hai. Shayad agli baaar jab woh jage toh ho sakta hai ki woh kuch bol bhi de” [“No he didn’t say anything, he still hasn’t reached that stage yet, but Doctors say that this is good. They said that this means Aman is recovering stably. And maybe next time when he wakes up, he may even say something”]

There was a cacophony of happy sighs and small thank-you prayers heard from the other side of the phone. It seemed a weight lifted from the family’s shoulder.

After a while, the voices started to dim. Not because they stopped talking but it seemed the phone was taken away from such a large gathering of the family. Then Champa spoke in a private tone, “Tu thheek toh hai na waha?” [“Are you okay over there?”]

“Arey mummy yaha Kartik-Aman ki chinta karne ke time pe aap meri chinta kar rahi ho.” [“Come on Mom, at a time when we should be worrying about Kartik and Aman, you are worring about me.”]

“Kartik-Aman ki chinta hum sabko bohot hai, par teri chinta to main hi karoongi na.” [“Everyone of us is busy worrying about Kartik and Aman, but worrying about you is my job”]

“Meri kaisi chinta.” [“There is nothing to worry about me.”] Rajni said in a condescending tone with a chuckle. She hoped her mother didn’t notice the tone though.

After a long pause, Champa asked, “Tune khana khaya?” [“Did you eat?”]

“Nahi mummy.” [“No mom”] Rajni replied quietly.

“Jaa jaake kahana khale.” [“Go, eat something”] she said softly.

Goggle responded with a ‘hmm’.

Champa continued, “Aur sunn, sab theek ho jayega. Hum hai na yaha. Tujhe koi baat sata rahi ho toh mujhe batane se hichkichaana nahi. Main teri maa hoon.” [“And listen, everything will be fine. We are here for you all. If you want to talk about anything that’s been troubling you, don’t hesitate to talk to me. I’m your mother.”]

“OK mummy” Rajni said with a small smile, which she knew that mummy couldn’t see, but she also knew that mummy still somehow felt it through the phone. She ended the call at that note.

With that small smile, she walked back towards Aman’s hospital room to find the few police officers assigned with their protection, all standing outside of the room in anticipation. She got in to see that Aman was awake. Groggy, but awake. The doctor was there checking on him. He asked Aman some questions and Aman answered as much as he could. The family held their breath in anticipation throughout the conversation. After the doctor was done, he gave the family a smile and the permission to talk with Aman, though he warned that the mentions of Trauma had to be kept minimal as they were yet to assess his mental condition.

But this was a start.

‘Maybe we really will be okay’ Rajni thought to herself with a small smile, before sending a silent prayer to the Gods wishing for Kartik to get better as well.

Outside, the Doctor met up with police. Arjun asked him if they could see Aman, but already knew the answer before it was even spoken.

“Please, this matter is of utmost importance and urgency”, Arjun pleaded.

“I understand”, the Doctor replied. “Just give us a few hours.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Double update!

Something was wrong. Something was very, _VERY_ wrong.

Of course, to the outside perspective getting beat-up to within an inch of your life would be considered as the definition of your ‘very wrong’ but Aman knew better. Aman knew that there was something wrong apart from all of that.

The obvious Red Flag was Kartik not being there beside him as soon as he woke up. He knew Kartik. Even if they might not show it much, they were WAY too much codependent on each other. When one was sick, it would be impossible to function for the other, unless they were working to take care of them. And in such a dire situation like this one, Aman knew Kartik would not leave his side even for a second. Of course, it could be argued that Kartik was in the bathroom or somewhere else, taking care of something. But that was clearly not the case, as he didn’t show up even once throughout the time when he was talking to the Doctor. And Aman knew that his dumbass husband wouldn’t leave him alone in the hospital, even if it meant going home to take a shower or something, even if it meant he was not really _alone_ since is family was here.

_‘Also,_

_When the fuck did they get here?_

_Oh my God, my family is so sappy and overprotective.’_

Once the doctor left Aman wanted to ask where Kartik was but he was quickly losing his fight with his consciousness. He was barely able to answer the questions of his family but he tried as much as he could. He didn’t even notice when he blacked out.

He woke a second time, apparently a few hours later. ‘ _And APPARENTLY it was actually the **third** time I woke up that day. WTF is happening with me? I hate this. Where’s Kartik?’_

They say third time’s the charm. This time Aman did not feel as groggy as before and he stated such to his doctors and family members. To which the doctors replied, “Well then Aman, if you **are** feeling up to it, the police would like to ask you some questions about what happened to you. I know you may feel like you are not up to it, but if you want your attackers to be apprehended then time is of the essence.”

Aman only replied with one word, “Kartik?”

The doctor gave him an indistinguishable smile and said, “Your family is going to have conversation with you after you talk to the police.” Then he turned to address all of them at once and said, “Good luck” before calling the officers in.

As the two officers walked in Aman gave a look to his family. A look that displayed that he was borderline angry. A look that said ‘I don’t like secrets.’

The lady Inspector sat down not too far from his bed, and the cute Sub-Inspector stood a few steps behind her. She introduced herself and her subordinate saying, “Hello Aman, main hoon Inspector Razia Sharma, the lead investigator of your case and this is Arjun Pandey my Sub-Inspector. I know you are in a lot of pain, so I’ll keep this as brief as possible. Just tell us as much as you can about what happened.”

“It was Kartik’s father”, declared Aman without missing a beat.

That response shocked everyone in the room, to say the least. Eyebrows were raised, and surprised looks and gasps filled the tiny hospital room. Razia asked, “Have you met him before?”

“Main mila toh nahi tha but uss jallad ko main kabhi bhi kahi bhi pehchaan lunga. Kartik ne jiss tarah uska description diya tha aur uski kartooto ke baare mein bataya tha, I’d know him anywhere.” [“I had never met him but I could identify that devil anywhere. The way Kartik had described him and his deeds to me, I’d know him anywhere.”]

They were all silent in the face of this revelation. Rajni sneaked her hand in Aman’s and squeezed it a little.

Aman looked up at her and continued, “Uss subah jab darwaza kholte hi maine usko dekha, main usse pehchaan gaya tha, aur yeh baat usse bhi samjh me aa gayi thi. So he tried to use force. Kuch gundey bhi laye thhe apne saath usne. Mujhe realize hua ki I’d need help but my phone was in the bedroom so I made a run for it. Main bhaga aur maine bedroom ka darwaaza lock kar diya, but usse pehle ki main Kartik ya Police ko phone kar pata, they broke down the door in just a few kicks. Kareeb 3-4 bande them, including…… _him_. Usne mujhse poochha Kartik kaha hai. Of course I didn’t say anything and that angered him. Aur kyunki main bhaga tha, uss baat par unhe pehle se hi gussa tha.” [“That morning when I opened the door and saw his face, I identified that monster right away, and he apparently understood that on my face. So he tried to use force. He had brought along other goons with him. I realized that I’d need help but my phone was in the bedroom so I made a run for it. I ran and I locked the bedroom door behind me, but before I could call Kartik or the Police, they broke down the door in just a few kicks. There were about 3-4 burly men there, including…… _him_. He asked me where Kartik was at. Of course I didn’t say anything and that angered him. And because I had made a run for it, they were already pretty angry to begin with.”] He paused and took a deep breath and collected himself, before saying, “One of them suggested ki Kartik jaise _, I’m not gonna say the word,_ ko zinda rakhna hi nahi chahiye. So Kartik’s father; **_no_** you know what? He’s _not_ his father; uss **_abusive_** _**jallaad**_ ne mera sar window frame pe repeatedly mara. I don’t know how many times because I’m pretty sure I passed out after two hits or something. But I can assure you, uska intention murder tha. I don’t know what stopped him from finishing the job.” [“One of them suggested that a _, I’m not gonna say the word,_ like me shouldn’t be left alive. So Kartik’s father; **_no_** you know what? He’s _not_ his father; that **_abusive_** _**monster**_ hit my head repeatedly on the window frame. I don’t know how many times because I’m pretty sure I passed out after two hits or something. But I can assure you, his intention was murder. I don’t know what stopped him from finishing the job.”] By the time Aman ended speaking, he had angry tears of painful memories in his eyes. For him, it was probably like revisioning yesterdays events, since he had been unconscious for all these days. Everyone of his family members were shocked, and a light sob from Mummy Tripathi could be heard.

Razia silently asked Arjun for the senior Mr. Singh’s picture. Arjun pulled it out from the file he was holding, and handed it to the Inspector. Inspector Sharma turned the picture towards the youngest Tripathi in the room and asked, “Is this him?”

“Yes”, came a solemn reply from Aman.

She handed the picture back to Arjun and asked Aman, “Is there anyone else you recognized?”

“No” there was this one guy in their group who seemed to give Aman somewhat of a dejavu, but it wasn’t worth mentioning.

“If we were to send a sketch artist, would you be able to describe them enough to make an identifiable sketch of your assailants?”

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“Okay then, we are done here Aman.” Razia said with a smile. “Do any of you have any questions?” she addressed the entire family.

“Yes I have one”. Aman said in an angry tone. “Where the **_HELL_** is Kartik?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to omglord for helping me count Aman's braincells in these two chapters.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments give me motivation to continue writing. UwU <3
> 
> Constructive critisism is accepted AND appreciated. So yeah, gimme ur thoughts.
> 
> IG/Twitter/Tumblr/AnyFuckingWhere EVER:  
> @oliviasarkar14


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